06/05/2022

The Network of Civil Society Organizations for International Cooperation and Solidarity LINK 2007 has sent a letter to members of the House and Senate to ask the Government for a policy statement regarding Italy’s position within the EU and the Atlantic Alliance because the political-diplomatic initiative is decisively supported while continuing full support for Ukraine.

6 May 2022

Honorable Senators
Honorable Deputies and Deputies

Subject: Parliamentary resolution on the war against Ukraine and political negotiations

In this complicated and confusing phase of Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine, it seems appropriate for Parliament to once again exercise its role of political guidance, clearly identifying the goals that the Government intends to pursue with due support for Ukraine.
In fact, it seems that among the allied countries a different and aggressive will is gaining more and more space with respect to that of defending Ukraine from the aggressor, almost confirming the same logic of power, whatever the cost to the Ukrainian people and without having evaluated and defined a final plan with precise and shared objectives.

It seems that interest in the path of political dialogue and negotiation for peace has diminished. We hide behind the refusal or the “this is not the time” that comes from the Kremlin to set aside diplomatic action, which by its nature must be constant, stubborn, audacious, and leaving the objective in the background, almost forgetting it the main thing that must remain is to treat peace tenaciously, without being discouraged in the face of obstacles.

Thirty years too late after the collapse of the USSR, it seems that we are giving up on the high road of redefining a shared world order, with functioning international institutions, which reflects the current reality of the world and not that of 1946, lay the foundations for a new peaceful and collaborative coexistence and remove the idea of ​​a new opposition that would strengthen the continuous rearmament instead of reprogramming an agreed disarmament, to the detriment of much more urgent and important goals, nobly represented and signed by all in the goals of sustainable development.

It seems that the EU is losing its voice, delegating it to other alliances, or expressing it weakly and ineffectively through individual leaders. If at the beginning of the Russian invasion there was a heartfelt aspiration for greater unity of European countries and peoples, the leaders have not been able to fully grasp it to enliven the path of European integration and accelerate it, also in order to be able to contribute to peace global, as we have experienced it on our continent for 75 years.

It seems that Italy is not assuming any leading role, limiting itself to fidelity and loyalty to the Atlantic Alliance and to its main ally. Yet, within the same Alliance and without failing in loyalty, it could and should assume “on equal terms with other states” a significant and front-line role in defining the indispensable dual direction of support for attacked Ukraine and political dialogue with Russia, an aggressor state but indispensable for the negotiations. Italy cannot remain on the sidelines and must know how to play all its political and diplomatic capital in every venue, which has nothing to envy of other states.

We therefore ask you Deputies, Senators and Senators of the Republic to present and approve a Resolution that commits the Government to:

1. Demonstrate in every international forum its option addressed both to support Ukraine and to the political-diplomatic initiative to restore peace, with both components aimed at achieving the ceasefire as soon as possible and direct negotiation between the leave with international assistance.
2. Press within Europe for an action that sees the EU as an active and proactive protagonist in the process of political settlement, given its geographical location, proximity to Russia and economic and cultural relations which, in any case, cannot and they must not fail.
3. Define and propose a decisive negotiation path towards a compromise political solution on both sides, which includes what is already being negotiated in the context of the Turkish initiative, starting from the ceasefire, and some fundamental objectives such as the status of Ukraine protected by international guarantees on its territorial integrity and sovereignty and territorial disputes related to Crimea, regions of Donbass, newly occupied territories.
4. Encourage, as soon as time permits, a new “Helsinki conference” on security and cooperation in Europe to redefine, 47 years after the previous one, the guiding principles of relations between the EU, the European countries, the Alliance Atlantic Ocean, Russia and the countries politically closest to it, and to favor the reduction of tensions, common security and cooperation between States.
5. Strengthen the alliances within the European Council for the abolition of unanimity in sensitive decisions, which create political paralysis, and to start the process of revision of the treaties in a more federative sense, in order to give effective tools to the indispensable protagonism EU international.

Lastly, we like to share the opening and closing words of President Sergio Mattarella’s speech to the Council of Europe in Strasbourg: “The international community has a task: to obtain a ceasefire and restart with the construction of a respectful and shared international framework that leads to peace”.

Thanking you for the attention that can be given to our concerns, on behalf of the LINK 2007 network, I send you my best regards.

Roberto Ridolfi, President,
Link 2007 – Network cooperation

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